Big Week: For pro bull riders, preparation is key

As the bull riders from the PBR Touring Pro Division arrived at the Salinas Sports Complex on Wednesday, they started their routine of preparation.

Cord McCoy, an 11-year pro from Oklahoma who once competed in the reality television show "The Amazing Race," said it's important to make sure his equipment is properly set up.

"If you break a strap on your spur, you're going to have something go wrong during your ride that you knew nothing about and it adds danger to it if you haven't checked you equipment," he said, adding that a mistake like that could cost one of the riders in Salinas a $15,000 purse.

Sean Willingham, a 13-year pro from Georgia who has ridden in more than 250 events, said preparation "is just like everyday life."

"You put on your boots one foot at a time and go on with it," he said.

The bull riders welcomed each other as they trickled in and got ready. It was the calm before the storm.

"In a little bit here it's going to get wild, so I just kind of chill out," North Dakota bull rider Josh Ehlers said.

His routine: After chatting with the other riders, he gets his rope ready by scraping off old resin and applying more resin to get it nice and sticky. Then he changes and continues the preparation.

"A guy has to stretch and get your body warmed up and ready to go," Ehlers said. "It's only eight seconds, but it's a pretty extreme eight seconds."

The bull riders taped up whatever injuries they brought to the event. Willingham said there is more of an emphasis on safety in bull riding since he got started.

"There's a lot of head injuries — I mean, it is a dangerous sport," he said. "But nowadays, there's guys wearing helmets. After my head injury, it was either quit riding bulls or put on a helmet."

While there was initially some pushback against wearing helmets, Willingham said bull riders have realized it is necessary to prolong their careers. He said a cracked skull was his worst injury, but he also recently broke his wrist and has "a couple of plates and screws here and there" to keep his body together.

When serious injuries do occur, there is a medical staff ready to help. Mercedes Zertuche, a registered nurse, was part of a volunteer group on hand at the Salinas Sports Complex from the Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital emergency room.

"It's pretty exciting ... but we hope that they never need us," she said.

Zertuche has been volunteering at the California Rodeo Salinas for six years. She said the riders get lots of cuts and bruises, but those aren't the injuries that she deals with.

"We've seen people that if they didn't have the paramedics and all of the medical support that they have here, they could have some very life-altering consequences here," she said. "We're talking broken bones, internal injuries from the bull coming down on them. ... They have a lot of obstacles to overcome to have a safe landing."

So why get into bull riding?

"You've got to be crazy," Willingham said. "It's different. Some people grow up doing it and their families did it. For me, I didn't start until I was 15 years old and I went and saw the rodeo in high school."

The California Rodeo Salinas officially kicks off Thursday with the opening ceremony at 6 p.m. Logan Thorstenson, a 10-year-old from Soledad, will sing the national anthem. The arena events will be bull riding, tie down roping, team roping, saddle bronc riding and steer wrestling.